Read It UP!

This story is an based on an interesting concept.  A Fallen Angel named Kiriel gets tired of his hum drum life watching over lost souls in hell so he decided to come to Earth to experience what life has to offer.  At first he hopes no one will notice he is gone, so he can enjoy his time in a body he has confiscated (Shaun’s body.)  He appreciates every little detail of life.  The feel of a hot shower.  Eating ketchup.  Petting a cat.  Before long he wants to make a difference in the world.  He realizes that Shaun’s life is not as good as it could be.  Shaun’s brother, Jason, has shut himself off from the world.  He is always doing something wrong, usually breaking things, often angry.  In reality, he is scared that no one will accept him for how he truly is.  Because Kiriel knows all, he knows Jason’s fears and he tries to use Shaun’s body to be good big brother to Jason.  Since Jason and Shaun had picked on each other since Jason will little, at first Jason doesn’t know whether to trust him or not.  Soon Jason goes along with Shaun to his friend Bailey’s house and their friendship blossoms from there.  Jason starts to look forward to hanging out with Shaun.  They have normal conversations.  They are a family.  Jason also knows that a girl at school has had a crush on Jason for quite some time, but Jason has not even noticed her.  So he decided to start spending time with her at school.  His intentions at first are all wrong.  He only wants to get to know her so he can experience sex.  She sets him straight quite quickly by informing him she’s not having sex with him.  So they settle for hanging out with his friend Bailey and playing video games. Throughout it all, Kiriel wonders where he truly belongs.  He wonders if the Creator knows he is missing.  And if so…does HE care?  Just as he becomes comfortable in Jason’s body…they come to take him back to hell.  Before he goes Hanael, the Unfallen who has come to take him back, tells him that Shaun will regain his life within his body.  But, he will be hit by a car and put in a coma so he will forget what has happened to him.  Shaun will have to fight for his life and start over.  Thus, making him appreciate the life he never appreciated before.

Kiriel, like so many of us, wonders what his place in the universe is.  Is our Creator watching us?  Does he personally know who we are?  As I read this I thought, what a universal theme to write about.  I know I have pondered this question as have many people across the world.  Does He truly hear our prayers?  Is He noticing the good things I am doing in this world?  It is a never ending journey…trying to make the world a better place day by day.  Kiriel, on his way back to hell is already thinking about how to improve the lives of the souls trapped there and hopping perhaps his Creator will notice.

Before you start reading this, you might want to check out this trailer for the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWrl1aZFsgQ

Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature is about a girl named Mena. Her family is very religious. She has been sheltered from anything that might corrupt her (films, CDs, non-church friends, dating, etc.) Mena is very kind hearted. She starts to observe some of her fellow church members bullying a boy because of his sexual preference. Unable to contain her frustration in their behavior, she writes him a letter apologizing on their behalf. Instead of this helping the problem, it snowballs into an even bigger issue. The boy’s family sues the church and some of its members. Everyone turns against her…even her parents. When she is assigned a new lab partner in her science class, Mena starts developing a crush on him. He is smart and sweet and likes her back. The problem? Her parents have her grounded for life, she can’t date (unless she lies to her parents), she never lies… This book had me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see whether Mena would risk everything to have her first kiss.

This audiobook was narrated by Kalli Vernoff and is partially voiced. The main character Mena has a distinctive voice throughout the novel. Casey, Mena’s crush, sounds more manly. There was a distinctive difference between their voices. I especially enjoyed Casey’s occasional British accent. This type of narration was an appropriate for this novel since the majority of scenes included Mena alone or Mena with Casey.

Vernoff’s voice was clear and engaging. I found myself wanting to stay up late to finish this book. It was very pleasant to listen to over the entire 6 ½ hour recording. I did not observe any intakes of breath. However there were a few speech peculiarities. I found myself thinking, did she just say that correctly? I wanted to pause the recording and go look up the pronunciation. It was so minor, and I was so caught up in the story, that I just let it go. To tell you the truth I can’t even remember the words that bothered me, because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I thought the narrator’s voice matched the age of the main character. Mena, the main character, was really well developed. She was believable. I also liked the “gruff” voice of Casey. Vernoff does a good job of creating a masculine voice without sounding overly fake. I loved how dramatic some of the scenes in the novel were. The voices matched appropriately. I especially enjoyed the voice of one of the minor characters, Theresa. She sounds like a “dumb blonde”, has a high pitched rude voice, and is overly dramatic.

The pace of the audiobook was perfect. Each chapter was about two minutes long. This makes for easy stopping. It is also great for the attention span of teenagers. The pace did vary with more dramatic scenes. There were no sound effects or music, except for the opening music which announced the title of the book. There is an announcement at the start of each chapter. Each track starts a new chapter. I was a little disappointed with chapter markings however. I downloaded this audiobook from www.audible.com . I then uploaded the book to my Ipod. When I began listening to it I noticed that the chapter heading listings did not match the actual chapter that was being read. I do not know if this is a flaw with Audible or this audiobook. Endpoints were well chosen and leave the reader excited to start the next chapter. There is an interview at the end of the novel, which I found insightful. The author is interviewing a science professor who was the inspiration for one of her characters.

The sound quality was excellent. I was not able to tell when recording sessions began or ended. The background white noise was consistent throughout the entire recording. The sound level was steady as well. The cover design is the same as the cover of the book. It is attention grabbing and attractive. I purchased this as a download so I did not have any packaging material to evaluate. Overall it was a fun recording that I really enjoyed.